Customer Exasperation Pt. 2 - Subway #2

Continuing my customer service gripe series, I present my second Subway restaurant story:

Subway #2
I decided, again, to go to Subway. It's really close to my place of employment, is healthier than some alternatives, and the customer service is usually better than some other places'.

I asked a co-worker if she wanted anything. She declined, at first, then changed her mind and handed me a ten and a slip of paper with her order.

I got to the restaurant, found a good space, walked inside, and saw the longest frickin' line ever (at a Subway anyway). "Oh HELL naw," I thought.

I got the hell outta there, jumped in my truck, and hit the empty drive-thru. At some point, someone came over the intercom saying, "We're sorry, but the drive-thru is currently closed."

WTF?!

I swear I would've left if not for the fact that I'd taken my co-worker's order. I didn't want to get her all ready for this food and then choose not to get it, so I parked, again, got my silly ass back in line (behind someone who'd taken my good parking space) and waited. She said the line was moving pretty quickly, but it wasn't quick enough.

To keep my co-worker's and my money apart, I'd held her order Post-It Note and $10 bill in my hand. Once I was in line, though, I couldn't find the damned ten. Not in my truck, not on the ground, on the floor, or anywhere else. The folks around me claimed not to have seen it.

The one Black man around us asked, "You sure you had it?" "Yep," I said.

"Somebody probably got that already, man, eh hehehe," he continued. I said nothing.

2-3 seconds of silence.

"Yeah, you probably made somebody's day, a-HAH-HAH-HAAAAAA!" He and the guys around him laughed.

"Ah-HA-HA!" I faux-laughed, as I slapped the wall next to us. One joke was too much, but I let it slide. I'll be damned if I wanted to sit there and listen to this stranger continue to prompt laughter from more strangers over the fact that I'd lost ten bucks. When I told my girlfriend about this later, she asked, "You really did that?" (re: the pissed-off fake laugh) "I sure did." They may have assumed I was really laughing, but it's hard to tell. Still, they shut up soon after, which was all I wanted.

I was able to convince myself that the ten was probably in my wallet and, after all, I'd rather be in denial about it than to be pissed about it ten bucks. I said this out-loud and everyone laughed and agreed.

I finally got to order my co-worker's sandwich, then mine. When we got to the newbie sandwich artist, I told her about, then showed her the instructions from the Post-It note, which she took from my hand. (Yuck.)

When she got ready to make mine, she realized she was out of lettuce. Oh, she didn't ask for any before-hand. No. She asked for it once she was out.

An older employee came over with a bag o' lettuce and dumped it in the receptacle. She then used the inside of the bag to compact the lettuce, which was fine. However, she also had money in her left hand, which made contact with the lettuce. She was actually using the money to push the lettuce down.

"Money is nasty. Money is nastyyyyyy," was all I could say. Experience told me that it wouldn't take much complaining from a Black man for folks to think there was about to be a rumble up in there, but I had to say something. The employees were pretty dismissive of my "hints," although the guys behind me understood.

The young lady resumed making my sandwich by grabbing a handful of lettuce and putting it on my sandwich. I threw my hands up in the air! She wondered why.

"That's the part that the money was on," the guy behind me commented. (Thank you!) And he was right. That was the exact chunk of lettuce that was pushed down with that dirty-ass money.

She wasn't sure what that meant or what to do about it. The cashier walked over, put on some gloves, grabbed a handful of the lettuce from the top and trashed it. I appreciated that, but my sandwich was still tainted.

The young lady asked if I wanted another sandwich (after we explained that my sandwich was still tainted). I looked at the line and she said it wouldn't take long. I didn't believe her.

Because of how the lettuce was oriented, I told her that, if she just took the lettuce off the sandwich, I'd be happy. She did and then asked if I wanted more lettuce from a fresh bag or what. I told her the other employee got rid of the rest of the "tainted" lettuce, so the remainder would be fine.

The office was only about 3-4 minutes away, but the whole trip took 30 minutes!

Geez, I say!